PDP group asks NWC to sack Kogi caretaker committee

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Frontliners has asked the party’s national working committee (NWC) to sack the Kogi state caretaker committee.

In March, PDP set up the caretaker committee led by Danjuma Laah, a former senator, to run the party’s affairs for a period of 90 days.

The Laah-led committee said the congress organised in Kogi to elect ad hoc delegates did not follow party guidelines, but PDP LG chairpersons disagreed.

In a statement on Saturday, Hussein Mohammed, Moses Abidemi, and Dan Okafor, president, secretary, and publicity secretary of the group, said the caretaker committee was allegedly trying to replace the results of a free and fair congress that took place in July.

“The PDP Frontliners hereby demand immediate disbandment of the controversial Kogi PDP Caretaker Committee,” they said.

“We applaud the PDP NWC for an emphatic memo dated August 7 which effectively scuttled plans by the clique which even sought to override the authority of the PDP national secretariat by addressing a petition to INEC as an unpardonable affront that speaks volume about their true intentions.

“We also applaud the firm stance of PDP LGA chairmen in Kogi state who wrote to the PDP’s acting National Chairman, Ambassador Ilya Damagum over the Caretaker Committee’s attempt to reverse delegate elections by all the 239 electoral wards of the 21 local government areas in Kogi state.

“Apparently, their resolve to take legal action and resist participation in a contrived ‘emergency’ congress that gives all the advantages to a tiny clique have been appropriately considered by the PDP NWC.

“One is appalled that as former lawmakers who ordinarily should have proper grasp of party processes as it relates to conducting congresses, our senators have displayed gross incompetence and lack of grit.

“It is even more shameful that as elders of the party, they have descended so low, to work in cahoots with few individuals to try set aside legitimate decisions and circumvent due process, by promoting illegalities which will affect the re-positioning of the party and reduce likelihood of winning future elections.”

They group said the Laah committee arrogated powers to itself which it does not have and failed to complete its “temporary assignment with dignity”.